Site Poll - Chat Box 17

I don't consider the word otaku to be offensive since I call myself that sometimes, but I think it depends on the tone and the person saying it :\

Yea, totally agree. I mean, I don't see why it's sooo offensive either... especially if it's not true or if it isn't used as a derogatory term (like how most Westerners use it, not like the original Jap meaning). It's sort of how I call my close girlfriends "b*tch", but not really meaning it, like an inside joke. Erm, at least that's how I see it. I mean, it's just a word~

I was going to pick the first one, but after having second thoughts about it (I do have a life, after all), I picked the second one. I'm not super-obsessed, but I consider manga/anime one of the best things I've ever seen.

But i've still a Real Life!! I mean,Once i tryed to make it in the Tokyo UNI and whereused to live in a Girls-Dorm... Or Some other day iplayed with a friend in an Acarde and now if i sneezeI change Gender...

I don't consider the word otaku to be offensive since I call myself that sometimes, but I think it depends on the tone and the person saying it :\

Yea, totally agree. I mean, I don't see why it's sooo offensive either... especially if it's not true or if it isn't used as a derogatory term (like how most Westerners use it, not like the original Jap meaning).

If this were a Japanese forum, I'd certainly think twice before referring to myself as an otaku because the meaning there is rather different & more negative. As this is a US-based and English speaking forum, I'm going with the US/English/Western/whatever meaning of the word - which I'm fine with.

________________"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

In here otaku means anime/manga fan... even though there are some who knows the truth behind this word the majority use the local meaning... and when the both sides meet in the streets they get into a huge fight...

I chose the middle one, even though I don't have mucha of a social life I do put other stuff and people over that

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Yeah, I don't like the term otaku, its insulting. Makes me imagine someone running around in a pikachu outfit all day, everyday, going 'pika pi!'.

I usually do read manga and watch anime on a daily basis. And I USUALLY put my social life ahead of it (it counts on how good the show is...). If anyone invites me to a pool party, anime has to wait! I'm probably one of the more addicted ones from my group of friends. Only person who beats me is this one guy who really love yaoi.

But right now, I'm in the manga/anime phase of addiction. I always switch between being addicted to manga, anime, reading novels, drawing, knitting, or videogames. I'll probably be like this until June or something, and then start into the Sims again.

I don't consider the word otaku to be offensive since I call myself that sometimes, but I think it depends on the tone and the person saying it :\

Yea, totally agree. I mean, I don't see why it's sooo offensive either... especially if it's not true or if it isn't used as a derogatory term (like how most Westerners use it, not like the original Jap meaning).

If this were a Japanese forum, I'd certainly think twice before referring to myself as an otaku because the meaning there is rather different & more negative. As this is a US-based and English speaking forum, I'm going with the US/English/Western/whatever meaning of the word - which I'm fine with.

There is no English meaning. It's just how stupid Western people interpretated the meaning of the word. I didn't think getting the wrong meanings of word gave it a whole new meaning. If you have no social life and like to cosplay, and wear a Narutard headband all day (let's not forget speaking Wapanglish) then you are an otaku. Or maybe the English word "loser" and "freak" might fit in more. :3

There is no English meaning. It's just how stupid Western people interpretated the meaning of the word. I didn't think getting the wrong meanings of word gave it a whole new meaning. If you have no social life and like to cosplay, and wear a Narutard headband all day (let's not forget speaking Wapanglish) then you are an otaku. Or maybe the English word "loser" and "freak" might fit in more.

I disagree. It is originally a Japanese word, but in being adopted into English and the English-speaking anime/manga culture, the meaning has changed significantly - which is not by any means a new thing when words from one language are adopted into another.

I also don't really see the point in being nasty to/about people who are harming no one and making themselves happy, regardless of how silly it may seem to someone else. Does it make you feel better about yourself when you put other people down or something?

________________"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

There is no English meaning. It's just how stupid Western people interpretated the meaning of the word. I didn't think getting the wrong meanings of word gave it a whole new meaning. If you have no social life and like to cosplay, and wear a Narutard headband all day (let's not forget speaking Wapanglish) then you are an otaku. Or maybe the English word "loser" and "freak" might fit in more.

I disagree. It is originally a Japanese word, but in being adopted into English and the English-speaking anime/manga culture, the meaning has changed significantly - which is not by any means a new thing when words from one language are adopted into another.

I also don't really see the point in being nasty to/about people who are harming no one and making themselves happy, regardless of how silly it may seem to someone else. Does it make you feel better about yourself when you put other people down or something?

What the fudge? I wasn't putting anyone down. =/ I was simply pointing out the real meaning of the word. Thus helping people not call themself a loser/freak/whatever. :3

Last time I checked "otaku" was a Japanese word, and if you were to translate it, it would simply come out as loser / freak / whatever.

Overall, otakus are people who have never had contact with the opposite sex. Scratch that, with no one at all.

I put More or Less. I have periods where I'm completely obsessive over anime and manga where everything else is next to nothing on my priorities. Other times, I'm completely bored with it, and I find other things to do with my time.

Yea, totally agree. I mean, I don't see why it's sooo offensive either... especially if it's not true or if it isn't used as a derogatory term (like how most Westerners use it, not like the original Jap meaning).

Actually, even in Japanese, being called an 'otaku' has a negative connotation. It's means you're a weirdo (and a geek-- in the negative sense). Most Japanese people would imagine it as someone who stays locked up in their small houses, full of merchandise of whatever it is they're obsessing about, never seeing the sun, no social life, etc. It encompasses a whole lot of obsessions, not just manga. If you're a geeky die-hard star trek fan who knows every single detail about it, costumes, and whatnot, you're still an otaku. It's not just manga or anime.

Anyway, I couldn't pick an option for the poll. I was a huge fan years ago, but now, I don't even read manga when I'm bored. The only manga I'm getting/reading are the ones I translate for a group I work for, that's pretty much the only thing I have passion for in the manga/anime world nowadays. I also couldn't pick the option of "EWW NO!", because I don't have such a violent reaction about the word otaku anyway. I guess my answer would just have to be a simple "No."